Aliens: Evolution
by Rurouni Tyriel
Summary: (INCOMPLETE) Aliens, Mutants... which species will be dominant? Rated for violence and cursing, and vividly described alien birthing.
1. Chapter One: Nightmares

Disclaimer:  
  
My latest work, hope everyone likes it. Oh, by the way, don't own X-Men Evolution, blah blah blah, or the Matrix, blah blah James Cameron, blah blah, etc etc. You all know the drill, right? Using most of the dialogue from the movie, but adding some twists of my own for my favorite little Evo characters. That said, enjoy. Positive and informative reviews welcome. Flames will be used to keep myself warm on cold nights.  
  
Chapter One: Nightmares  
  
Cold. Quiet.  
  
The tiny ship Starjammer drifted through the reaches of spaces, its occupants undisturbed, frozen as they were in suspended hibernation. Sleeping, perhaps dreaming. The entire ship was dark, lit only the by the light of passing stars.  
  
A shadow passed over the Starjammer, blotting out the view from the nearby star as a deep-space salvage ship passed overhead.  
  
Light then filled the tiny ship, and the sound of metal being burnt away, as the salvagers use a torch to cut down the thick metal plating of the ships hull, breaking into the main chamber. They break down the door and enter the ship, finding its only occupants, sleeping through all of this.  
  
"Green lights still on. She's alive..."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Marie grimaced as she opened her eyes, immediately being assailed by a bright influx of white and blue light, though more of the former than the latter. A woman used to the darkness and shadows of the world, it was more than she could bear, and grimaced as she sat up, taking in her surroundings.  
  
A hospital, she quickly decided. Everything was white, metal, cold. Definitely a hospital. She was lying on a pristine bed, wrapped in white, which made her pale skin seem all the more like polished ivory, the only color her piercing green eyes and auburn hair, with its distinct white stripe down the front. Grimacing she sat up further, glancing at the window, the source of the blue light. Now that her vision had cleared, she saw more clearly through the glass. A planet, blue and white streaked. Her home, Earth.  
  
Inwardly she smiled, even as the nurse asked her how she felt.  
  
"Terrible," she replied. And she meant it. Every single bone ached, and she felt nauseated.  
  
"Terrible? Well that's better than you felt yesterday dear," said the white-haired nurse as she moved with practiced cheerfulness. As she stopped in front Marie, she got a better look at her. A tall, dark-skinned woman in her early twenties with ivory hair that stopped just above her shoulders, dressed in the same white uniform she'd come to expect most women in her profession would wear.  
  
"How long've I been here?" Marie asked, placing one hand to her head to try and dispel the awful headache she had.  
  
"Just a couple of days... do you feel up to a visitor?"  
  
Marie shrugged, not caring, watching the far door. Almost immediately a thin fellow in a crisp business suit walked in, carrying a familiar face with him.  
  
"Isa," she breathed happily, clutching the orange tabby to her as if it meant the world to her, temporarily forgetting the business man next to her as she stroked the thick-furred little Isa.  
  
"Nice room," said the visitor, smiling at Marie, who turned to face him, and got a good look at him as she did. A young man, barely out of his teens, not much older than she was. Thin of build, but possessing a strength there. Wiry would've best described him. His skin was paler than Rogues, almost albino, and his white hair was swept back, every strand perfectly in place, setting off his pale blue eyes. His business suit was crisp and clean and it actually fit him perfectly. Obviously he cared a great deal about his looks. "I'm Pietro. Pietro Maximoff. I'm with the company. oh but don't get me wrong I'm really an okay guy. Glad to see you're feeling a bit better. I'm told that the nausea and the dizziness will pass in time. Its just a natural side-effect of... well... such an unusually long hyper sleep. or something like that."  
  
"What do ya mean? How long was ah gone?" asked Marie, sitting up a little more, confused and disoriented. But the albino seemed caught off guard by her question, glancing around, but they were alone.  
  
"Has... has no one discussed this with you yet?" he asked tentatively. Marie shook her head, coming instantly to full consciousness. From the way he was avoiding the question, it couldn't have been good news. She felt a her stomach clench in on itself in dread.  
  
"Well... maybe you shouldn't worry about that just yet..." he said, starting to reach into his briefcase. Marie's arm shot across and grabbed his, startling him.  
  
"How long?" she asked, adding a bit of steel to her voice to show she meant business. "Please..." she added, realizing she might've seemed a bit unbalanced.  
  
"Fifty-seven years," he replied.  
  
It took a few seconds for the shock to set in.  
  
"What?" she asked. He only nodded sadly, confirming his earlier statement. Fifty-seven years. "Jesus Chrahst..." she swore. She barely listened as the white-haired man continued.  
  
"You drifted through the core systems. It's blind luck that deep-salvage team caught you when they... are you all right?"  
  
She didn't respond at first. Her clenched stomach suddenly felt a lot worse. And now it felt higher, in her chest. She could hear her own heartbeat, as Isa hissed in anger. Pietro started to hand her a glass of water, no doubt thinking it only nausea, but Marie slapped it away, and it shattered on the ground as she started to convulse. Isa clambered off of her chest, running into a corner and hiding as Pietro tried to keep Marie calm, shouting for the doctors to return.  
  
The dark-skinned lady and another doctor rushed in, but Marie couldn't get a good look at him as she fell back onto the bed and arched her back, feeling it. Dreading what she felt.  
  
"Please... kill me!" she managed to gasp out through all the pain, as she ripped up her white smock all the way to her chest, and they could see her stomach pulsate and ripple as (something) writhed around underneath.  
  
And then it burst free...  
  
Author's Notes: For the record, I'm assuming Marie is Rogue's real name, since it was used in the X-Men Movies (which rocked, I might add). Jones is a silly cat name, in my opinion, and Isa is the name of my own cat. My own personal little twist. And for those unfamiliar with it, the Starjammer was a spaceship seen in the X-Men comics and old animated series piloted by Scott Summers father (who's still alive). 


	2. Chapter Two: Brave New World

Chapter Two: Brave New World  
  
Marie awoke with a start, instinctively grasping at her chest which was, thankfully, whole. She breathed a little more easily. It'd all been a nightmare.  
  
She -had- met Pietro, that much she remembered... and then she'd... fainted? She grimaced, brushing back the strands of her hair as she tilted her head forward in self-pity. Nearby, the monitor blinked on, and she saw the image of the blue-furred yeti, the other doctor who had helped her yesterday. This, at least, she was not startled by. Mutants had always been a part of her world, though she hadn't known they'd become so public in the past fifty-seven years. Or that they'd been accepted so well. A lot had changed. No cure yet existed for her though, it had seemed. The doctor had told her as much.  
  
"Bad dreams again?" he asked over the screen. Marie nodded grimly. "Do you want something to help you sleep?"  
  
"No... ah've slept enough," she said. The doctor nodded his furry head again and turned of the screen, leaving Marie alone with Isa, hugging the cat to her like her life depended on it. "We're finally home."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Marie sat in the park, gazing out at the trees, listening to the birds sing...  
  
Until the screen went dark, and she sighed, leaning back on the bench. She was never going to get used to this. The world had changed so much. Sighing, she glanced over at the doors as Pietro walked in, carrying a briefcase.  
  
"Sorry... been running behind all morning," he said as he zipped over to the bench and sat down next to Marie. A little too closely for her comfort, all things considered, but she was determined not to show it. She also idly wondered how a super-speed mutant could be "running behind." She decided to ignore it for now.  
  
"Did they fahnd out anythang about mah mothah?" she asked. And again, the look, that Pietro had bad news but didn't want to reveal it.  
  
"Ah, maybe we should concentrate on your hearing first. Ireadyourreport, itsgood, youshouldjuststicktothatand..." he started before he was cut off by her again.  
  
"Did they fahnd anythang?"  
  
"Well I was hoping to wait," he said slowly, reaching into his pack and pulling out some papers and a small vidscreen. "Irene Alders. Age: sixty- two, at time of death. That was two years ago," he added solemnly as he handed the vidscreen to Marie, who stared at it blankly. The face of an elderly woman stared up at her, wearing the sunglasses she'd come to associate with Irene, but it was not the woman who'd raised her. That woman was... gone...  
  
"Irene..." breathed Marie quietly, running a hand over the portrait.  
  
"Died in a car accident. Cremated. Interred in Caldecott, Mississippi. No offspring."  
  
"Ah... ah promised here I was going to be home for mah eighteenth birthday..." said Marie, starting to tear up. Then she almost laughed, it was so sad. "But ah'll be she knew I wasn't comin' home. She had foresight lahke that."  
  
Marie sighed, and Pietro laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"You've read my disposition. How many times must ah go over tha same story ovah and ovah again."  
  
Marie was now in the conference chamber. Behind her, the screen scrolled down information about the lost Nostromo, including its crew, one in particular who caught Marie's attention. Warren Worthington III. The one who'd... she didn't want to think about it. She was surrounded on all sides by company representatives.  
  
In other words, vermin in nice suits.  
  
"We're just trying to ascertain what has happened. Try looking at it from our point of view. You freely admit to detonating the engines, and thereby destroying an M-class star freighter," said the white-haired man directly in front of Marie. Apparently the color had grown very popular in the future. So had blue, she decided, glancing at the woman directly to the right of the man. His name was Eric Magnus Lensherr. Hers was Raven Darkholme (no relation to Marie, it turned out). "A rather expensive piece of hardware, I might add."  
  
"Fifty million dollars," said the woman dryly. "Minus payload, of course," she added with something close to a hiss, glaring at Marie with her cat- like gold eyes.  
  
"The shuttle's flight recorder corroborates some elements of your account. That, for reasons unknown, the Nostromo set down on LV-426, an unsurveyed planet, at that time. That it resumed its course and was subsequently set for self-destruct, -by you-, for reasons unknown.  
  
"Not reasons unknown," she replied hotly. She was getting sick of saying this over and over again. "We set down on that hunk of rock on company orders. We..."  
  
"The analysis team went over the escape ship centimeter by centimeter, yet found no sign of this creature you indicated..."  
  
"Good!" she all but yelled, startling them. "That's 'cause ah blew it out of tha goddamn airlock!" she grimaced, realizing it was not helping her case, so she calmed down before she added "Like I said."  
  
"Are there any creatures like this on LV-426?" asked the big, brown-haired man to one side of the blue lady. Named Cain Marko, he was a business consultant. And also an "intimidating factor" for "difficult negotiations."  
  
"No, it's a rock," she replied, blowing some smoke before taking another long drag. "No indigenous life."  
  
"Did IQ's just drop sharp while I was away? Ma'am I told you it wasn't indigenous. It was derelict spaceship. We homed in on its signal..."  
  
"To be perfectly frank," interrupt the woman again, reading from Marie's statement. "We've seen nothing like what you've described in over three hundred surveyed worlds." At this point the blue woman's skin shifted, and she turned pale, shorter. Her fiery red hair became auburn with a distinct white streak, and her gold eyes became green, until she was a perfect mirror image of Marie. In a voice just like her southern drawl, she quoted "A creature that... gestates inside of a living human host... and has concentrated acid for blood?"  
  
"Yes," replied Marie darkly. She could sense not a single person in the room believed her story. "Look, I know where this is going. Listen. Warren said he saw thousands of eggs on that ship. Millions, maybe."  
  
"Thank you, Officer Darkholme, that will be all," said the white-haired man as he turned to his colleagues, considering her statement over.  
  
"... because just one of those things managed to kill my entire crew in less than twenty-four hours," she added harshly, trying to regain their attention. She hated being ignored.  
  
"Thank you, that will be all," said Lensherr, making a dismissive gesture. The iron chair next to Marie moved forward, hitting the back of her knees and sitting her down. Growling she stood up again.  
  
"Goddamnit that's not all!" she yelled, getting everyone's attention now, including Pietro's. He shook his head sadly at her performance. "If even just one of those things gets down here then that will be all! And this," she roared, grabbing up all papers about their expensive M-class star freighter and all the reports. "This bullshit you all seem to care about so much, well you can all just kiss it all good-bye!" she added, throwing it down. Her cheeks flushed hotly, then she reluctantly took in a deep breath and calmed herself, sitting down in the seat behind her once more.  
  
"It is the finding of this hearing," said Lensherr with delibert slowness, his blue eyes boring into Rogue's. "That Lieutenant Marie Darkholme has acted with "questionable judgement" and is unsuitable to hold an ICC piloting liscense. Said liscense is thereby suspended indefinently. No criminal charges will be filed, and you will be released on a psychometric probation, to include monthly review by an ICC professional psychiatrist. This case is closed."  
  
Marie sighed as the business men and women got up and gathered their things, the meeting over. Pietro made his way over to her, looking apologetic.  
  
"That could've gone better," he said. Marie ignored him, moving past Pietro to head towards Lensherr, who was pointedly ignoring her.  
  
"Lensherr. Why don't you just check out LV-426?"  
  
"Because I don't have to," he replied smugly. "There've been people living their for almost twenty years and they certainly never complained about any hostile organisms."  
  
"What do you mean? What people?" she asked quietly, suddenly very pale.  
  
"Terraformers," he replied. Then, realizing she wouldn't understand, he explained. "Planet engineers. They set up atmosphere processors to make the air breathable...big job. Takes decades. It's what we call a shake 'n' bake colony. They've already been there over twenty years. Peacefully."  
  
Lensherr started to make his way past Marie into the elevator, but her hand shot out with the same speed and strength that had startled Pietro in the hospital. Marie was easily underestimated, but it was not a mistake others made twice. "How many? How many colonists?"  
  
"I don't know. Sixty, seventy families. Do you mind?" he asked pointedly as he stepped past Marie and into the elevator, which closed shut, leaving Marie alone with Pietro.  
  
"Families... sweet jesus..." she whispered softly. 


	3. Chapter Three: The Beginning

Chapter Three: The Beginning  
  
Planet LV-426. Renamed Archeron by the expansive company and its terraformers. A harsh, barren wasteland of rock and clouds. No life, far as the eye could see, only twisted rock sculptures, mountains and valleys. And one small city. If it could even be called that.  
  
Hadley's Hope.  
  
The city was completely internal. Though the air was breathable the storms that frequented the planets surface were, to say the last, unpleasant. Winds that howled over a hundred miles an hour and lightning that split rock in half was not the sort of weather that one had a picnic in.  
  
In the center, it was a flurry of activity as the terraformers did their duties, trying to make a planet into something livable. Into a thriving colony world. Idly Samuel Guthrie sipped at his coffee as he watched through the glass window, watching as one of the many huge-wheeled tractors made its way into the compound and docked, letting out its workers. Guthrie brushed back his shaggy blonde hair, making his way elsewhere. He was busy. One of his many assistants, newly assigned to the post, made his way over to him. A short, blonde haired fellow named Masters.  
  
"Sir? You remember you sent out some workers out past the plateau in sector 5 a few days ago, right?"  
  
"Yeah, so?" grumbled Guthrie. He was always irritable in the morning, even with his coffee.  
  
"Well one of them's on the horn. Thinks he's found something, wonders if hus claim'll be honored?"  
  
"Why wouldn't it be?" he asked, tapping a door panel and stepping into one of the many tunnels of the complex that was Hadley's Hope.  
  
"I dunno, maybe because you told them to go out to that particular sector?"  
  
"Jesus," cursed Guthrie, slapping his head in irritation. "Sometimes, on a cushy office on earth some hothead says go look at a grid in the middle of nowhere. They don't say why, and I don't ask... I don't ask because it takes days to get back to them on Earth, and the answer is always..."  
  
"Don't ask," said Masters and Guthrie in unison. He'd heard this trite plenty of times before.  
  
"So what do I tell this guy?" he asked, getting back to the matter at hand. Guthrie sighed.  
  
"Tell him as far as I'm concerned, if he finds anything, its his... now if you'll excuse me I have real work to get back to."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Elsewhere, on the barren wastelands that composed much of the landscape on LV-426, a small vehicle made its way across the landscape towards it destination, the grid it'd been assigned earlier. Having just gotten off the phone with Masters and assured his claim would be honored, Façade was eagerly, nay happily, driving along.  
  
Nobody knew Façade's real name, not even him, but his habit of disappearing from people's vision had earned him his nickname, and it had stuck like glue. Still, he supposed he liked the aura of mystery it gave him.  
  
Suddenly he spotted something on the dark, cloudy horizon. Not a rock structure either (lord knows he'd seen enough of those in his life.) Something bigger and... smoother.  
  
As he made his way closer, the other occupants of his vehicle moved forward, Callisto, Jamie and Rahne all crowding for a better view of the strange structure... no, not a structure... a ship, Façade realized. An alien ship, no less.  
  
"We just hit paydirt," he said with a grin as he opened the door and grabbed a flashlight, slipping out of the vehicle with Callisto behind him, warning his niece and nephew to remain behind to remain behind...  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Hours seemed to pass as Rahne and Jamie watched in silence, both of them waiting for their caretakers to return.  
  
"They've... been gone a long time..." ventured Rahne quietly. The lightning, dark clouds and ominous wind blowing was starting to scare her. Jamie seemed just as bad.  
  
"It's okay newt. Uncle Façade knows what he's doing..."  
  
Suddenly the door was wrenched open, and both their hearts lurched. To their relief, it was only Callisto who hauled herself bodily in, shouting into the mike and, through it, back to Hadley's Hope.  
  
"Mayday, Mayday! This is Alpha Kilo Two Four Niner, calling Hadley Control! Mayday! Repeat, this is..." she went on as Rahne screamed in horror at what lay past her.  
  
Laying on the ground was Façade, his body semi-transparent and blinking in and out of view, with something hideous stuck to his face...  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Marie jumped up like a shot at the sudden noise, gasping for breath in horror at some unmentionable nightmare. Thankfully, in a few seconds she realized it was only her doorbell. Reluctantly she slipped off of the bed (thankfully she'd collapsed on it still fully clothed) and went to the door, opening it.  
  
To her surprise, there stood Pietro Maximoff and a strange, military man, an officer to judge by his uniform. He tower over Pietro by a good dozen or so inches, built like a brickhouse, but with a strangely benevolent expression in his gray-blue eyes.  
  
"Hi, Marie," said Pietro, immediately shaking her gloved hand. "This is Lieutenant Rasputin of the... " he started, but Marie growled and shut the door in his face, wanting nothing more to do with the Company that had ruined her life and endangered her species.  
  
"Marie we have to talk," said Pietro through the door, as Lt. Rasputin just stood their and waited like a good soldier. "We've lost contact with the colony on LV-426..."  
  
Marie slowly opened the door, an expression of dread on her face. 


	4. Chapter Four: Choices

Chapter Four: Choices  
  
"There is no way in hell."  
  
"Marie, hearmeout..." started Pietro.  
  
"Ya'll send me out to tha wolves ahn expect me ta head back? Forget it, sugah," she said angrily, sipping her coffee.  
  
"Look we don't know what's going on out there..." continued Pietro, ignoring her. "It might just be a fault transmitter. But if its not... I would like you along as an advisor. That's all. Its not like we'd be sending you in with the troops or anything."  
  
"We can guarantee your safety," added the up-until then quiet Lieutenant. He spoke with a prominent Russian accent.  
  
"These Colonial Marines are some tough hombres, they're packing state-of- the-art firepower and are some of the most skilled mutant fighters around. Nothing they can't handle... right lieutenant?" asked Pietro.  
  
"We're trained to deal with these kinds of situations," replied the Lieutenant.  
  
"What about you? What's your interest in all of this?" asked Marie, glancing at Pietro. He seemed a little too caring for a company man. He hunch was confirmed when the speedster seemed to hesitate. It was only a millisecond or two, but she noticed.  
  
"Well the corporation co-financed that colony with the Colonial Administration, we've getting into a lot of terraforming now... you know, "Building Better Worlds" and all..."  
  
"Ah know that, ah saw the ad," she replied angrily, sipping her coffee.  
  
"I heard you were working in the cargo docks," said Pietro, suddenly switching off topic. It caught Marie off-guard, and her defenses instinctively went up.  
  
"That's right," she replied.  
  
"Running loaders, forklifts, that sort of thing?" he inquired.  
  
"It's all ah could get... why?"  
  
"Nothing, Ithinkitsgreatyou'rekeepingbusy," replied Pietro, waving his arms in a silly motion that made Rogue smirk in spite of herself. "But... what if I said I could get you reinstated as a flight officer, hmm? And that the company had agreed to pick up your contract?"  
  
Rogue hesitated... the deal seemed too sweet, and that made her suspicious. Thankfully, she already knew the catch.  
  
"If ah go..."  
  
"If you go," he echoed, nodding. "It's a second chance, and that's the best thing in the world for you to face this fear and beat it, you gotta get back on the horse..."  
  
"Spare me, Speedy, I've had my psych eval this month," she replied angrily as she finished her coffee and washed out the cup, placing it aside.  
  
"I know," he said, suddenly in a blur appearing at her side. "And I've read it. You wake up every night, sheets soaked, the same nightmares over and over again..."  
  
"No! The answer is no!" she roared, directing her anger at Pietro and Lt. Rasputin equally. "Now go please."  
  
Pietro and his lieutenant reluctantly departed, but Pietro dropped his number down alongside Rogue before he departed. "Call me?" he asked with a smirk. "Seriously, think about it."  
  
And then they left Rogue alone with Isa and a difficult decision.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Rogue woke up in a cold sweat later that night, the nightmares still there. She had no choice left in the matter, it had to be done... but she needed to know one final thing. She dialed up the number and waited by the vid phone. Soon, Pietro's face came into view, bleary from sleepy. The white strands all out of place.  
  
"Hello? Marie... hey..."  
  
"Just answer me one thing, Pietro," she said, speaking softly but firmly. "You're going out there to kill them, right? Not study, not bring back... but wipe them out."  
  
"That's the plan," he replied, nodding.  
  
"Ahlright... ah'm in," she replied, hoping she was making the right choice.  
  
"I know this isn't the best hour for thinking, but if you're coming along you'll need a codename. Everyone on the team has one," he said. Rogue paused for a moment, considering, then came up with something appropriate.  
  
"Rogue," she replied, turning off the vidscreen before Pietro could reply, then turning back to face Isa. "But ya'll're staying here this tahme."  
  
She could've sworn the thick-furred little furball looked relieved.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Three weeks later, deep space.  
  
The SR-77 Blackbird was the pinnacle of military space-flight technology, cutting through the vastness of space as easily as a hot knife through butter. Its occupants lay frozen in hypersleep for the moment, but soon enough that would change. It was loaded with virtually every weapon, tank and aircraft artillery known to the human species, and could, if ordered, conquer a small planet with little difficulty.  
  
Finally the onboard computer Cerebro activated and sent out the signal to awaken the sleepers, one by one all lined up in a row of sleeping capsules, like coffins. Most clad in nothing more than shorts (halters for women) and dogtags. These were the Colonial Marines. Rogue and Pietro, or Quicksilver as he was codenamed, were all the way at the far end, just past the troops who had started to stir.  
  
"They ain't payin' us enough for this shit," griped Ray Crisp, A.K.A. Berzerker as he stood upright, kinking his neck and doing his best to fully wake up from his long sleep. Berzerker was build tough, tall and sturdy, with a mixmatch of carrot-red and blonde hair with a piercing and an expression that suggested he'd rather be doing anything that what he was right now.  
  
"Not enough to wake up to your ugly face, Berzerker," replied the fellow sitting up next to him, an oversized fellow in a specially designed sleeping capsule named Fred Dukes, A.K.A. the Blob. He ruffled his blonde mohawk and stood up, stretching out his stiff limbs.  
  
"Fuck you," replied Berzerk, then turned his foul mood the other way towards a brown-haired, wiry fellow wearing a pair of red sunglasses. "Hey Cyclops, man you look just like I feel." Scott Summers, A.K.A. Cyclops, who did indeed imagine he looked horrible, took the remark in stride as he jumped up and started to prep himself.  
  
"Sheisse! This floors freezing!" grunted a German accent to the right, causing everyone's heads, including that of Rogue and Quicksilver, to spot the strangest member of the Marines, Kurt Wagner, A.K.A. Nightcrawler.  
  
Kurt was a blue-furred, two-toed, two-fingered, digigraded legged, prehensiled tailed fellow, a second gen mutant. Second generation. Though he seemed easy enough to wake up, his sensitive, bare feet didn't care much for the cold. Rogue watched in mild interest as the silly blue devil tried climbing up the walls in an effort to find somewhere less cold to rest his feet.  
  
"Elf! Christ, I've never seen such a bunch of babies in all my life," grumbled the Sargeant of this motley band of Marines, Logan. The Wolverine. He stomped over 'til he was underneath Kurt, glaring up at him. "What'samatter soldier? Want me to fetch your slippers for you too?"  
  
"Gee vould you, Herr Wolverine?"  
  
Logan responded with a grunt and a quick order for everyone to get themselves prepped, then he made his own advise as the marines shuffled over to their lockers and grabbed their gear, having some good-natured rough-housing between themselves. Among them, Rogue didn't fit in well as she shuffled towards her own locker, dressing herself, not wanting to leave her skin exposed.  
  
"Hey Magma?" asked Nightcrawler as the dark-haired, dark-skinned Islander started doing pull-ups on a low hanging bar. "You ever been mistaken for a man?" he asked with a smirk.  
  
"Nope... you?" replied Magma with a vicious grin as the fuzzy blue elf's ego was deflated a bit. Berzerker, alongside her grinned and they clasped hands in a rough arm-wrestling manner, though it was obvious to an observer it was just rough bonding.  
  
"Hey," said Magma, nudging the pony-tailed girl next to her a nudge and pointing towards Rogue. "Who's snow white over there?"  
  
"Supposed to be, like, some kinda consultant," replied Shadowcat, the only other female soldier on board... well, apart from X23, but she wasn't... well... real. "Apparently, she saw an alien once."  
  
"Whooooahh... no fooling, frauleins?" asked Nightcrawler as he snuck up behind the two of them, his ego and flirting not damaged in the least. "I'm impressed."  
  
"Come on lets move it people," shouted Wolverine, already dressed. "You miss breakfast now you ain't getting any later."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
In the mess hall things had settled down a bit, though the troops cast somewhat baleful glances at their new commanding officer Rasputin, or Colossus, who was eating at a separate table with Rogue and Quicksilver.  
  
"Hey Wolverine, what's the mission?" asked Spyke, as he sat down to eat his meal that looked like it was the sort served in prison camps.  
  
"Rescue mission, you'll love it porcupine," replied Wolverine with a smirk.  
  
"Yeah, bet there's some juicy colonists daughters we have to rescue from their virginity," added Berzerker with a smirk and laugh, sentiments echoed by his fellow troops.  
  
"Dumbass colonists," grumbled Iceman to the right as he picked at the cornbread. "What the hell's this supposed to be?"  
  
"Cornbread I think," replied Gambit, sitting to his side. "Hey, looks like de Lieutenants too good to us wit us grunts, non? Remy think he be insulted."  
  
"Yeah," replied Iceman. "Got an adamantium rod up his ass, that's for sure."  
  
The last member of the marines finally joined them, a dark-haired, short girl who's name, and codename, Rogue did not know. She hadn't been briefed on this one, and that naturally made her suspicious. As the girl came in, Nightcrawler held out a knife and heckled encouragingly. "Come along fraulein, do the thing vit the knife!"  
  
"I'd rather not..." replied the girl hesitantly. But after some encouragements from the other troops she reluctantly picked up the knife, twirling it experimentally in her hand. As she did, Berzerker and Amara snuck up behind Kurt and pinned him down, placing his hand on the table underneath the girls, who slipped her fingers into a Vulcan salute to match Kurt's two-fingers underneath.  
  
"Hey... vait... I..." Kurt started to protest.  
  
"Trust me," replied the girl. Without a backward glance she tossed the knife over her shoulder and extended a long, thin blade from between her first and second knuckles, tapping the table with it to the side of Nightcrawler's fingers. Quickly she moved, with precision and accuracy, slicing up the table without so much as scratching a single fur on the fearful, wide-eyed Nightcrawler.  
  
"Thank you," replied the girl as she re-sheathed her claw and picked up the knife, handing it back to a shaking, fearful Nightcrawler.  
  
"That wasn't funny man," he said vaguely towards Berzerker and Magma. Definently wasn't going to be flirting with -her- anymore. Well, her loss.  
  
The girl sat down alongside Rogue and across from Colossus and Quicksilver, examining her finger, which seemed damaged. Though the wound healed over quickly, a thick, white blood oozed out, catching Rogue's immediate attention... as well as her immediate hatred. She turned to Quicksilver accusingly.  
  
"Ya'll never said anything about ahn android being on board, why not?"  
  
"Well it never occurred to me," replied Quicksilver. "It's been our policy for years to have a synthetic on board."  
  
"I prefer the term artificial person myself," replied the girl with something of an eerie coolness about her. "Is there a problem."  
  
"I'm sorry X23, I completely forgot..." started Quicksilver, then decided he needed to explain. "The synthetic on Rogue's last trip malfunctioned..."  
  
"Malfunctioned...?" asked Rogue angrily. The damn thing had gone psychotic trying to protect the alien on company orders.  
  
"... some deaths were involved," finished Quicksilver.  
  
"I'm shocked," replied X23, though she barely seemed surprised. "Was it an older model?"  
  
"Uh yes an A77"  
  
"Oh that explains it the A7's always were a bit twitchy," she replied. "That can never happen now with our behavioral inhibitors. It is impossible for me to harm, or by omission of harm, allow to be harmed a mutant or human," she said with another eerie smile. "Cornbread?"  
  
Rogue growled and knocked it out of her hands, startling everyone in the room by her sudden outburst.  
  
"Just stay the hell away from me, X23. You got that straight?" she shouted angrily, then stormed out. Colossus and Quicksilver exchanged glances.  
  
"Guess she don't like the cornbread either," commented Iceman. 


	5. Chapter Five: Preparation

Chapter Five: Preparation  
  
After the meal all the marines met in the main hangar, alongside one of the large transport ships called an XM-Velocity. Two such ships resided on board the Blackbird, one as backup.  
  
Rogue stood to one side, a little out of place as Wolverine addressed his troops and introduced them to Lt. Colossus, their new C.O.  
  
"At ease," stated Colossus, though it was clear most of them were already doing that, lounge about on some crates as they were. "I'm sorry we didn't have time to brief before we left gateway but..."  
  
"Sir?" interrupted Nightcrawler.  
  
"Yes, Cyclops?" asked Colossus, angry he'd been interrupted, barely looking up.  
  
"Nightcrawler, sir... he's Cyclops," replied the furry blue mutant, pointing out his commanders mistake with not just a little glee.  
  
"What's your question?" repeated Colossus, his anger growing.  
  
"Is this going to be a stand up fight, or another bug-hunt?" asked Nightcrawler.  
  
"All we know is that there's still no contact with the colony... and that a xenomorph may be involved," replied Colossus, crossing his arms as he regarded the troops.  
  
"A... what?" asked Iceman, confused by the long word.  
  
"It's a bughunt," whispered Cyclops to him in an undertone. "So what are these things?" he asked, a little louder. Colossus frowned and glanced back at Rogue, who stepped forward reluctantly.  
  
"I'll tell you what I know... we set down on the planet LV-426, when we came back Warren had been... attached by something. Some sort of alien that injected an embryo, then later came off and died on its own. It's essentially a walking sex organ..."  
  
"Sounds like you, Cyclops," said Nightcrawler with a smirk. Cyclops could only grin at that. He knew his reputation.  
  
"After that, then it... it... emerges..." Rogue continued with some difficulty. "Molts, growing rapidly once..."  
  
"Hey listen lady," interrupted Magma, growing impatient. "I only need to know -one- thing... where... they... are..." she smirked, pointing her hand and sending off a short, thin beam of magma, incinerating a small pipe that had previously been laying their, minding its own business.  
  
"Yeah Aquilla, kick ass!" said the Blob.  
  
"Anytime, anywhere," she replied with a smirk.  
  
"Nice shooting, fraulein," commented Nightcrawler from the sidelines.  
  
"Fuck you," she said, flipping him off.  
  
"Anytime, anywhere," he replied with a good-natured grin that showed off his sharp fangs.  
  
"Are ya'll finished?" asked Rogue angrily, stepping forward 'til she was right in front of Magma. "Ah hope ya'll're right... ah really do."  
  
"I suggest you study the disks Rogue has provided for us..." Colossus started, hoping to dispel some of the tension, but Rogue interrupted him again.  
  
"'cause just one of those thangs managed ta wipe out mah entire crew in less than forty-eight hours."  
  
"Are there any questions?" asked Colossus. Then, to his disgust, he noticed Nightcrawler has raised his hand. "What is it, Nightcrawler?"  
  
"How do I get out of this chicken suit, sir?" he asked with a grin, tugging at his red t-shirt.  
  
"Shut up, Elf," replied Wolverine angrily.  
  
"All I want this to go smooth and by the numbers," stated Colossus. "want DCS and tactical database assimilation by 0830. Ordinance loading, weapons strip and drop-ship prep details will have seven hours..."  
  
"Alright people you heard the man, get to work!" shouted Wolverine. "Elf, come here... come -here-!" he added, popping a metal claw to point at the spot right in front of him.  
  
Nightcrawler headed towards his Sargeant looking like he was being marched to the guillotine.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The ship loading and other preparations went smoothly enough, as the marines prepped themselves for combat against the xenomorphs, slipping into their sleek, form-fitting black spandex uniforms. Uniforms that were as durable as most close-combat body armor.  
  
The Blob was loading missiles, by hand into the first of the two XM- Velocities, as X23 registered them into the ships database. The other marine mutants went about their various tasks, checking weapons.  
  
Wolverine and Cyclops were talking as Rogue made her way over to the two of them, interrupting their conversation. Both were now in uniform, Wolverine's with the markings of a sargeant and yellow slashes along his shoulders. Scott's had some sort of strange visor covering his eyes, in place of his sunglasses. No doubt to control his powers, thought Rogue. She was glad she'd read through the marine's profiles to know what they were capable of.  
  
"Ah'm kinda feelin' like a fifth wheel around here... anything I can do for ya?" she asked.  
  
"I dunno stripes, anything you -can- do?" asked Wolverine.  
  
"Well ah can carry those medical samples. Ah'd hate for you big strong guys to break your backs," she said, pointing to a rather large crate. Both Cyclops and Wolverine's eyes shot up, then glanced at her as if to see if she was serious.  
  
She was.  
  
"Be my guest," said Wolverine with a smirk.  
  
Rogue smirked, running her hands across both their cheeks in a motion that for any other woman would've looked like flirting. As it was, the brief contact allowed her to siphon off their life-energy. This, coupled with a brief touch with the Blob and Colossus, gave her enough combined strength to lift the crate up and over her head in one fluid, effortless motion without knocking any of the above unconscious.  
  
"What d'ya want it?" asked Rogue with a smirk.  
  
At this point neither of the two could hold themselves back, Cyclops burst into laughter and Wolverine gave a big smile of his own.  
  
"Medical bay, please," replied Wolverine. 


	6. Chapter Six: Landing

Chapter Six: Landing  
  
All was in order, and the marines were ready to kick some serious alien butt.  
  
Rogue and Quicksilver was escorted into the ACP first, followed by the rest of the marines as they strapped themselves in. Corporal Shadowcat made her way to the front to begin the descent as the others watched with apprehension.  
  
"I am ready to fight man!" shouted Nightcrawler as he psyched himself up. "Ready to get it on! Check it out. I am the ultimate badass, state of the badass art! You do not vant to fuck vit me!"  
  
Cyclops, strapped in just to the left of Nightcrawler, rolled his eyes behind his glasses and lay his head back as if to take a nap. Finally everyone was in, and Shadowcat initiated the drop sequence, as the APC was locked securely into place inside of the XM-Velocity - 1.  
  
"Ve're on an express elevator to Hell...!" said Nightcrawler with a smirk. "Going... down!"  
  
The ship dropped suddenly as Shadowcat finished her countdown and it lurched downwards before the internal gravity kicked in and they felt like they were stationary again. Rogue grimaced in her seat as the small craft made its way down to the dreaded gray planet known as LV-426.  
  
"Hey Rogue," said Nightcrawler, trying to grab her attention as he slipped out of his restraints and crawled up onto the ceiling, hanging upside down. "Don't vorry. Me and my squad of ultimate badasses vill protect you. Check out the gear we have in here," he added, tapping a rather large and lethal looking weapon of which Rogue was not familiar. "Independently targeting particle-beam phalanx. Fry half a city vit this puppy. Ve got tactical smart-missiles, phased plasma pulse rifles, RPG's. Ve got some eeeelectronic ballbreakers! Ve got nukes, ve got knives... sharp sticks...!"  
  
"Knock it off, Elf!" grumbled Cyclops as he grabbed the furry arm of his fellow soldier and yanked him back down into his seat.  
  
"Yes sir," replied Nightcrawler sullenly. Most of the remainder of the trip proceeded in silence after that point. Rogue noticed how Lt. Colossus seemed to be shivering, however. He seemed... uneasy.  
  
"How many drops is this for ya, Colossus?" she asked.  
  
"Thirty-eight... simulated," replied the dark-haired Russian C.O.  
  
"How many combat drops?" asked Magma, shifting in her seat.  
  
"Well... two," he replied. Then reluctantly added "Including this one."  
  
Most of the marines onboard weren't too thrilled to be hearing that. Thankfully there was little time to grumble amongst themselves as the ship finished its descent through the atmosphere and landed just on the outskirts of Hadley's Hope.  
  
"Alright, let's see, everyone on line? Iceman, check your camera," ordered Wolverine. Iceman complied as he whacked his vid camera up against a nearby bulkhead, and the view popped up onto the viewscreen next to Colossus and near Rogue and Quicksilver, also with a monitor on the marine mutant in question's heartrate and other such vital statistics.  
  
"Alright. Team A, gear up and let's move, Two minutes... and somebody wake up Cyclops," he added with a grimace, and Nightcrawler obligingly nudged his sleeping partner as the marines filed out of the APC and into the compound surrounding the main buildings of Hadley's Hope, making their way to the main doors.  
  
To say things were tense was to suggest that Quicksilver was just "a little fast." The troopers, some having viewed the video tapes that Rogue had helpfully made to describe the xenomorphs they might encounter, had let their imaginations run wild, and were now watching every corner and shadow for any sign of six foot tall, armor-plated black bugs with teeth that could rip through iron. Two marines always held point when the others moved forward, hands tense, resting against weapon triggers or open for the use of mutant powers.  
  
Fortunately, nothing occurred as they made their way up to the front door.  
  
"Locked... from the inside..." reported Wolverine. Though he normally would've loved to open the door in his own personal fashion, he decided better to keep it intact, less the Company higher ups send him a bill later. "Nightcrawler, run a bypass."  
  
"Right avay, Herr Wolverine," saluted the blue-furred demon, who promptly vanished in a puff of sulphurous smoke. Seconds later, the door opened from the inside, to reveal his grinning face.  
  
"Velcome to ze Rock," he stated with a bow. "Always wanted to say that," he added, as his fellow marines swept past him to examine the inside. All serious again, Nightcrawler joined them, weapon in hand.  
  
"Divide up and search by twos. Use your motion trackers," ordered Colossus, safe back in the APC with Rogue, Quicksilver and X23, watching the action through their video screens. Wolverine repeated his orders, and the troops fanned out.  
  
Most of the levels were clear, with signs of a struggle evident. Furniture overturned, papers scattered about the floor. No movement registered on the motion trackers... not yet, at any rate. The equipment, while useful, didn't have a very long range, and usually by the time you noticed something whatever it was, had already gotten closer than a range most people preferred, outside of intimate family.  
  
"Looks like my room back in college," said Quicksilver with a short, (very) short chuckle. Nobody found him amusing, their attention was glued to the screens.  
  
Rogue suddenly spotted something, leaning forward.  
  
"Cyclops... back up... pan left a bit, wouldja?" she asked. Cyclops obediently did so, the camera next to his visor giving her the view she wanted, of a gaping hole, the edges seared by fire... or acid. Rogue's stomach tightened.  
  
"You guys seein' this okay?" asked Cyclops, his voice crackling a little over the transmitter. "Looks melted."  
  
"Acid for blood..." whispered Quicksilver quietly, voicing what they already knew.  
  
"Looks like somebody bagged one of Rogue's bad alien guys here."  
  
"If you liked that," said Nightcrawled, his voice also crackling over the transmitter, his german accent even more prominent. "You're going to love this...!"  
  
Nightcrawler titled his head back, the view on his screen aiming up at another hole in the ceiling, and one below it... going down at least three levels, where it had eaten through whatever had gotten in its way... pipes, wires, and thick iron plating.  
  
"This place is dead sir," reported Wolverine. "Whatever happened here, I think we missed it."  
  
"Alright, the area is secure," repeated Colossus as he stood and made his way to the exit, Rogue and Quicksilver following. "Nightcrawler, see if you can't re-activate the CPU. Cyclops, meet me at the main door, we're coming in."  
  
"He's coming in," said Nightcrawler with a smirk towards his scouting buddy, which just happened to be Magma. "I feel safer already."  
  
Magma responded by suggesting that Colossus could go perform a rather unhealthy act of self-masturbation.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Authors Notes: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! My faithful audience is why I keep writing these things. Some replies though. No I wasn't going to pull a Ms. Marvel on Rogue. I like her the way she is in Evolution, she seems better somehow. But I -did- make significance of her in that scene with the medical supplies... and a keen observer may note that I did not say what sort of supplies they were. Oh and hope you all liked my -other- movie reference about midway through this chapter. Like Nightcrawler, I just couldn't resist.  
  
Oh and regarding the description of the motion tracker. Am I the only one who found those things annoying in the computer games? Bleep. bleep. BLEEP!!! BLEEEP!! Thank you I already saw the F***ing things, you stupid piece of S***!!! 


	7. Chapter Seven: Discoveries

Chapter Seven: Discoveries 

Rogue, Colossus and Quicksilver made their way into Hadley's Hope, all nervous despite the marine's reports that the place was dead.  Rogue in particular seemed on edge as she kept walking past acidic burns in the ground and ceiling.

The poor colonists hadn't had a chance.

"Looks like the Company can write off this place," remarked Colossus as he stepped briskly onward into the heart of the complex.

"It's insured," replied Quicksilver who was, not surprisingly, in the lead.  He didn't sound overly concerned about the place… or its inhabitants.

Cyclops, Magma, and X23 joined up with them and led them to the medical wing of the facility, still dimly illuminated by some white florescent lights.  Something else caught her attention though…

"Look, over here…" she said, bringing the others behind her she turned to a smaller room with stasis to tubes.  Filling four of them was an all too familiar shape, and Rogue's stomach twisted inside of her at the sight of them.

Facehuggers.

To be honest, she didn't know what else to call them.  The second stage of the aliens biological life-cycle, these were the things they'd found in the eggs, that had attached to Warren.  That impregnated a living, humanoid host and eventually… she didn't even want to think about that.

Quicksilver, out of morbid curiousity, leaned closer to one of the stasis tubes, looking at the creature within in ill-concealed awe.

"Watch it, Pietro," she started to warn, but he ignored her.

Suddenly the creature leapt forward, slamming into the glass, causing Quicksilver to zip back and cower behind Rogue, watching it as its strange… tubule/mouth retracted back into its body as it settled down, realizing its prey was beyond its reach.  Cyclops leaned in, examining the creature through his shades with a smirk.

"I think it likes you, Quicksilver," he said with a smirk.  Quicksilver glared back at him.

"Two are dead… two are alive," remarked X23, as usual showing little emotion as she picked up a clipboard and analyzed the colonists findings.  "Removed surgically before embryo implantation… subject: 'Lucid'.  Died during the procedure… they killed him taking it off," she remarked, raising her head.

Suddenly Cyclops's motion tracker started up, beeping, just as he neared the medical facility.  Rogue and the others noticed it as well.

"Behind us," he said, motion back into the corridors.

"One of us?" asked Rogue, almost fearfully.  Cyclops clicked on his earpiece.

"Wolverine, anyone in D-block?"

"Negative," came Wolverine's scrambled intercom voice.  "We're all in operations."

Magma cursed softly, bringing up her hands, palms open, and two balls of fire filled them as she crept forward in the lead, Cyclops and Colossus behind her, Rogue and Quicksilver behind them in the rear.  X23 remained in the lab.  Cyclops's tracker continued its steady beep-beep-beep, slowly growing louder and closer together as they neared whatever it was that was moving.

Suddenly the motion tracker bleeped loudly and something moved, there was a loud crash.  Something had slammed into a rack of pots and send them clanging all over the metal floor.

Magma reacted purely on instinct, thrusting out her hands and sending molten fire spewing forth at the source of noise and movement, obliterating most everything in her path.  Something moved again, and she followed, difficult thought it was to make out in the flashing lights and shadows, but Rogue saw it once it was no alien.  Cyclops must've noticed this as well.

"Magma, seize fire!" shouted Cyclops, and the hot-headed islander immediately lifted up her hands, the flame dying out and vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.  The figure or whatever it was continued to move, rapidly out of their vision as it slipped into the side pipes that lines the corridors.  The others crowded forward to see exactly what it was.  Cyclops tilted the light on his shoulder to better aim it.

It was a little girl.  Very dirty, very terrified little girl.  Rogue couldn't make her features too well in the minimal light, but she could make out the girl's ragged clothes, and even a tiny doll clutched in her hands.  The girl looked like she hadn't had a good meal in ages.

Rogue tenderly stretched out her hand, trying to get the girl's attention, while the marines shifted around her.

"Come on out… its ahlright…" she said soothingly.  The girl shrank back from Rogue's gloved hand.

"Oh come on just grab her," muttered Quicksilver.  Cyclops, seeing this as an order, all but leapt forward an reached for the girl, only to yank his hand back a moment later, wringing his hand.

"Ow… she bit me!" he cursed as the girl slipped away into a ventilation shaft while the other, larger marines were unable to follow.  Rogue, cursing their ineptness, followed after the girl, her smaller frame and lack of armor of any time allowing her to squirm after the little girl.  Just ahead of her the girl entered into a small cul-de-sac, and slammed a metal grate over the way she'd just come.  Rogue, undaunted, pushed her way through the girl with the strength that came from greater size and crawled in after her.

The little girl shrank into the corner, and Rogue let her for the moment, glancing around in amazement.  The room was a mess that made any normal child's room look clean by comparison.  Blankets, toys, stuffed animals, empty food packets and more cluttered the floor, it looked a cross between a little girl's room and the home of a foraging animal.  Perhaps a little of both, if this girl was the only survivor.

Rogue crept forward slowly, towards the little girl who shrank back again, glaring at Rogue.  Then suddenly she dived for the hatch, trying to get past Rogue.  Rogue grabbed her, careful to keep their skin from touching as she held her in her arms.  The kid struggled wildly, struggling but making absolutely no sound.

"Its okay, its okay…" Rogue whispered soothingly.  "Its ovah… ya'll're gonna be safe now… its okay…"

The girl went limp in her arms.

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The girl stared ahead, her eyes lifeless.  She seemed unaware of the marines around her, or Rogue, or anything really.  The other marines had checked through the room where Rogue had found her, not finding much, though they'd locate a personal file.  Sinclair, Rahne.  Age: 9.

Now that they could get a better look at her, Rogue saw she was a pretty little thing, if covered in dirt and filth.  Her russet-brown hair was sprayed in every which direction, and her eyes had a sunken, haunted expression.  Rogue could only imagine what she must've seen.

"Now think Rahne," said Colossus, standing before her.  "Concentrate.  Just start at the beginning… where are your parents?  You have to try…"

"Colossus, give it a break," started Rogue sharply as she returned, bringing coffee.  Colossus grumbled, and left Rahne, suddenly remembering better things he had to do.

"Total brain-lock," he said, excusing himself.

"Physically she's okay," said Shadowcat as she finished the readings, being very gentle with the little girl.  "Borderline malnutrition, but I don't think any permanent damage… that'll be easy enough to fix once we get back to the ship and I cook her something."

None of the marines chose to make a comment about that, for it was a well known fact that Pryde's cooking was sometimes more lethal than a plasma pulse rifle.

"Come on we're wasting our time," remarked Colossus as he and the other marines filed out to continue their mission and locate the other missing colonists.

"Here, try a little of this," said Rogue gently, handing a cup of coffee to Rahne, who held it in her hands limply.  "Poor thing… you don't talk much do ya?  That's okay by me… most people do a lot of talking and wind up saying not very much at all."

Rogue smiled to herself, thinking how much she must've sounded like Irene right now.

"Here, let's get you a little cleaned off," remarked Rogue, pouring some water into a small cloth and gently washing Rahne's face.  "Almost hard to believe there's a little girl under here…"

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, in operations the marines had congregated, Nightcrawler on the main computer checking the read outs while Colossus hung over his shoulder.  Quicksilver joined him.

"What's he scanning for?"

"PDTS.  Personal-Date Transmitters.  Every adult colonist had one surgically implanted," remarked Colossus, tapping the side of his neck.

"If zey're vithin tventy clicks ve'll read it out here, but so far… zip."

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don't know how ya managed ta stay alive, but ya'll're one brave kid, Rahne," remarked Rogue as she finished cleaning the little girl's face.

"W-Wolfsbane…" murmured the little girl, almost inaudibly.

"Huh?"

"Wolfsbane.  My name's Wolfsbane… nobody calls me Rahne except my brother…"

Rogue grinned, smiling to herself and giving a mental pat on the back for making the girl open up.  "Wolfsbane it is then… my name's Rogue," she added, taking Wolfsbane's hand and shaking it formally.  "Pleased to meet you."

Authors Notes: Much obliged to X-Girl 4 for pointing out my glaring error midway through.  Sometimes I go back and change things without fixing every little detail.  It annoys the hell out of me, and I'm working to break the bad habit.  For the record though, this will not be following the movie word for word, much of the dialogue remains the same however.


End file.
